I was very lucky to have my sister and 2 godsons come visit recently. And lucky for her, it was her birthday. Her only request was this cake. She had made it for Kees’ birthday and he declared it the best cake ever. When she told him it was my recipe and I made it even better, he was skeptical. So this was the test to see who made the best tres leche cake. After the first bite, mine was proclaimed the BEST cake.

I don’t quite remember when I first had this cake, but I fell in love with it. Well, I fell in love with the first one I had and then started to use this recipe which was just as good. Almost every one I have had since has not been as good as this recipe. When I lived in Hawaii, this was the cake my and my sister’s co-workers wanted for parties. The problem is people think you can just pour a bunch of milk on any ol’ cake and it will work. It doesn’t. They also think you can just top it with anything and it will be fine. It won’t. Then they think they can “fancy” it up with lime or pineapple flavoring. You can’t.
And when someone says, “a soggy cake?!” in disgust, tell them they are right and they should not eat ANY of it. Then have a second helping for yourself.

for the soaking mixture
1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 oz)
1 can evaporated milk (12 oz)
1/4 Cup heavy whipping cream (buy a pint of this as you will use the rest on the icing)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (see the note in “Tips” below)

Measure 1 cup of the milk mixture, pour over the cake, and refrigerate for 1-2 hours. Pour remaining milk mixture over cake, and refrigerate another 2 hours, or overnight.

Holes poked and soaking up the milk mixture

Mix heavy whipping cream adding in the powdered sugar to your desired sweetness. Whip mixture until it forms stiff peaks and is spreadable. Frost cake with mixture and garnish with strawberries.

Keep cake and leftovers refrigerated.

Tips:

Use glass or ceramic mixing bowls that are dry. When beating egg whites, this helps them form better and stay light.

I always use a springform pan, so I am not sure how a regular cake pan would work.

You can substitute low-fat for the whole fat milk products, but they don’t really take that much fat out. I have never tried this, so I am not sure how it would change the results.

You can use rum in the milk mixture instead of vanilla extract. The alcohol in the rum is not cooked out of the final product. Only use rum if it will be eaten by adults who drink.

You want to be gentle with this batter. The egg whites prepared separately give it the lightness it needs to soak up the milks and not be too dense. If you are unsure of your folding techniques, watch this video:

I have never been a huge fan of pecan pies. Always too sweet for me. And even before I became more concerned with my health, something about basically eating straight corn syrup just seemed wrong. So when everyone else called dibs on all the standard pies for Christmas one year, I decided to try this one. Now, I am a pecan pie addict!

I used the maple syrup we made and substituted sorghum we bought locally for the molasses. And you MUST toast the pecans. It brings out the flavor so much more than just plain. Just be carefully and watch them. I set a timer for 5 minutes and keep resetting until they are done. It is VERY easy to go from toasted to burned. I speak from experience.

Cook’s Illustrated has a great pie crust recipe I have in another post. However, if you don’t want to make your own, they recommend the Pillsbury refrigerated crust over the frozen.

Heat syrup, sugar, cream and molasses in saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves, about three minutes.

Remove from heat and let cool 5 minutes.

Whisk butter and salt into syrup mixture until combined.

Whisk in egg yolks until incorporated.

Scatter pecans in pie shell. Carefully pour filling over.

Place pie in hot oven and immediately reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.

Bake until filling is set and center jiggles slightly when pie is gently shaken, 45 to 60 minutes. Cool pie on rack for 1 hour, then refrigerate until set, about three hours and up to one day. Bring to room temperature before serving.

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